Product Description

If you are discouraged because your blended family doesn't quite live up to Mike and Carol Brady's "perfect" family, help is on the way. Claiming that there's no "happily ever after" except on TV, Ray & Debbie Alsdorf share their experience as parents and step-parents. They speak honestly about their mistakes and show how God helped them restore, heal, and rebuild their family. Paperback.

Product Information

Format: DRM Free ePubVendor: David C. CookPublication Date: 2010

ISBN: 9780781405041ISBN-13: 9780781405041Availability: In Stock

Publisher's Description

A message of hope for blended families, from a couple who have been in the trenches - and made it.

Blending a family is far more messy and complicated than any television show portrays. Beyond the Brady Bunch is a heart book, not a how-to book. Christians who find themselves in the midst of step-family life often feel hopeless and far from God, struggling with grief and unforgiveness. From personal experience the authors have found that all the how-to steps in the world dont work if there isnt first a heart change. Speaking with honesty and vulnerability they share their own mistakes and how God dealt with their hearts. The book will help stretch hearts, minds and homes past the image of "perfect" and another "happily ever after" into the hope of Gods promise to restore, heal and rebuild.

Author Bio

Ray and Debbie Alsdorf have experienced the challenges of blending their family firsthand. Married for 20 years, they are the parents of four adult children from their previous marriages. They serve as counselors for New Hope Ministries, are Biblical lay counselors and members of AACC. Debbie is the founder of Design4Living and a popular speaker, author, and director of womens ministries. Ray and Debbie reside in Northern California.

Endorsements

This book is a treasure chest of encouragement, hope and inspiration for the blended family. It has been said that some families cannot blend, they can only collide. Not true. The Alsdorf family have collided well. They are the real deal and a beautiful picture of a fantastic blended family. - Dr. Gary Smalley, best-selling author of The Blessing and The Language of Love

If you are in a blended family or know of one (and these days that's just about all of us) pick up this book, Beyond the Brady Bunnch. It's an in-depth look at how stepfamilies form and the myriad of difficulties that have to be overcome or endured. What I appreciated most about the book was that it stripped away the fairytale ideal that the new, blended family is going to mesh magically without any problems.

I also particularly enjoyed the sections written from the Alsdorfs' now grown children. Their perspective on what it's like to be a child in a blended family was invaluable.

Honest and open about their own experience, and drawing on the experiences of other blended families, the Alsdorfs give a thorough look at what to expect and how to deal with the difficulties that are sure to come up.

"Fifty percent of all first marriages end in divorce," and "seventy percent of third marriages" also end in divorce. With shocking statistics like those, it's easy see how this relevant book could be a useful tool in most families. There's plenty of good common sense between the covers. Family life is messy, and blended families are even messier! We need all the help we can we get, and here is a book chock full of workable ideas. It's filled with personal stories, anecdotes, and case studies. Interspersed are extracts from published material from others experienced with families who are blending. Written in first-person by each of the two authors, weaknesses are admitted and discussed, with biblical solutions offered. The four adult children of this blended family each share a part while looking back over their experiences. At the end of each chapter, a bulleted Bringing It Home list helps the reader to focus on the main points. If you know of a couple about remarry, I suggest this as a good wedding present. Thank you to FirstWildCard and Karen Davis at The B&B Media Group/David C. Cook for my copy.